Machine for cutting keyboards



. machine. Fig. 2 a ground plan of the carsaws, and various kinds of milling tools.

UNITE STATES PATENT OFFTC.

DERWIN E. BUTLER, OF CHESTERFIELD, OHIO.

MACHINE FOR CUTTING KEYBOAIAR/DS, &c., FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

Specicaton of Letters Patent No.

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DERWIN E. BUTLER, of the to-wn of Chesterfield, in the county of Fulton and State of Ohio, have invented a i new and useful Improvement in Machines l for t-he Construction of Reed-Sockets of Mui sical Instruments, such as melodions, Seraphins, &c., also for the preparation of their reed-boards and keys and the keys of organs and pianofortes; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, the same letters referring to similar parts, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of the entire riage on its under side, and Fig. 3 of the carriage platform.

A is the bed plate, of iron or wood, sufliciently long and wide for the largest bank of keys.

B is a standard for the attachment of bearings for a mandrel and two grooved pulleys a a.

C is a mandrel extending, horizontally near the entire length of the machine, with a belt pulley Z), and grooved pulley c attached to it outside the standard; its opposite extreme end having a collar, screw and nut, to attach the working tools, such as D is a bracketed column.

E is a vertical boring and mortising bar, working in bearings inthe ends of the column brackets.

F is an oscillating frame, connected at the back end to the column by pivot bolts, the front end having bearings in which the tool mandrel C rotates. This oscillating frame and boring bar are provided with maintaining springs (not seen) behind the column and also adjust-able gage stops to regulate their depression or working depth. T hey are operated by the levers Z1 d2. To the extreme end of the bed plate, and below and opposite the boring bar, and oscillating frame, is attached the carriage platform, the upper part exhibited at Fig. 3 on a larger scale. It is composed of two separate parts, the lower being attached to the bed plate, and stationary, with transverse ways (as seen in Fig. l) upon which the upper part slides in corresponding grooves, similar 'to a slide rest to a lathe and is operated 1n 19,345, dated February 16, 1858.

like manner by a screw and crank, e. On t-he upper side of the movable part of this platform, are two ways Gr Gr (at a right angle with the lower ones) upon which the carriage Fig. 2 slides in the grooves g g.

H Fig. 2, is a gage or spacing plate, with ratchet teeth on its inner edge. It has three ranges of holes, h1 corresponding with the divisions of the white keys, h2 with the divisions of the chromatic musical scale, and h3 with the division or intervals of the groups of'black keys. This carriage is kept down tothe platform by the flange Fig. 3

lapping over the ratcheted edge of the spacing plate in a groove c, Fig. 2 made to receive it. Directly under the spacing plate, and resting on the cross bars of the upper part of the carriage platform is a sliding link plate I, Fig. 3 slotted in the middle to allow a spring catch pin Z, to rise above the level of its upper surface. The spring of the catch pin is connected by a pivot, to allow the pin to traverse from one range of holes to another in the spacing plate, by means of the connecting spring bar m.

J is a lever connected to the under side of the link plate by a stirrup (not seen).

A spring pawl n, gears in the ratchet teeth of the spacing plate and is disengaged by pulling the string 0.

To illustrate the operation and utility of this machine, we will suppose the reed board of a melodion prepared in the ordinary way and the linedrawn for the length of the slot-s. The carriage is first drawn out so as to engage the spring catch pin Z, in the first of the range h2, of holes in the spacing plate, and the reed board is bolted by thumb screws to a. lining piece on the carriage. Motion having been given to the tool mandrel C by a belt on pulley Z), a slot is cut half through, by a suitable sized milling tool on said mandrel, by the pressing down the lever (Z2, and manipulating the crank c. It is now ready for the second slot. A motion to the left, of the lever J, throws the catch pin Z, out of its hole, by the end of the slot in the link plate I next to the lever, pressing against the curved or beveled side of the spring, and the spring pawl n engages with a new tooth. A contrary motion then liberates the spring catch and advances the carriage until the pin snaps into the next hole in the range, when the next slot is cut out in the reed board, and so on until all the slots are milled out to the proper lengths and half through the board. The carriage is noW liberated by pushing the handle of the lever to the left which throws the catch pin out of its hole, and pulling the string 0 disengages the paWl, when the carriage is gigged back to its first position and put in gear again. The next process is cutting the grooves for the reception of the brass socket; which is done by a small mill placed in the socketof the bar E. Motion is given it by a belt from its pulley, passing over the intermediate pulley a, a, and around the pulley 0,' the bar being held down by the handle of the lever (Z1, to its stop at the proper depth; the carriage is advanced transversely to the tool and the grooves cut in the sides of the slots by advancing the carriage as before, longitudinally. The slots are now cut through, by Jturning the board over, and repeating the first operation. Proper and suitable tools in the mandrel C With the cut beneath same being of like form or having taper' sheet of brass, slots, countersinks, and divides the Whole set of sockets, ready for insertion. The key bo-ard, veneered with ivory is next cut up, by two saws (the Width apart of a key) on the end of the mandrel, after adjusting the catch pin to its appropriate range; While at the same time the holes and slots through each key, for the hinge and steady pins, are made With unerring exactness by proper tools in the vertical bar E. Other operations, such as the pin holes in the key board frame, fu, are performed with undeviating certainty, and in a clean and perfect manner by the use of this machine; economizing time and labor, as Well as improving the construction of such instruments.

I do not claim to have invented the mode of making uniform and equal, or unequal divisions, by the intervention of a spacing or dial plate- With holes or notches, corresponding with the required divisions; as gearing is cut, and many similar operations performed through itsinstrumentality; but,

vWhat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent; is-V The use of the spacing plate H, With ranges of holes itl, h2, h3, and others if necessary; but one range of which, shall conform to, and correspond with, the musical chromatic scale; and the others Withl the mechanical divisions of the key board and its frame, in combination with the carriage and platform Figs. 2 and 3, the oscillating frame F and tool mandrel C and the vertical bar F, (said carriage having a longitudinal and transverse motion) and the Whole operated in the manner, and for the purposes, as herein set forth, by the mechanical devices described, or by their equivalents.

DERVVIN E. BUTLER.

Vitnesses J. C. FRINK, GEORGE JOHNSON. 

